- Description
-
- Creator(s)
- Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
- Title
-
- Etal Castle
- Date
- 1796 - 1797
- Medium and Support
- Graphite and watercolour on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 23.4 × 28.6 cm, 9 ¼ × 11 ¼ in
- Inscription
‘Girtin’ lower left, by Thomas Girtin
- Object Type
- Drawing for a Print; Studio Watercolour
- Subject Terms
- Castle Ruins; Durham and Northumberland; River Scenery
-
- Collection
- Catalogue Number
- TG1115
- Girtin & Loshak Number
- 186
- Description Source(s)
- Viewed in 2001 and 2018
Provenance
Chambers Hall (1786–1855); presented to the Museum, 1855
Exhibition History
Newcastle, 1982, no.75; Nottingham, 1988, no.34
Bibliography
Binyon, 1898–1907, no.13; Davies, 1924, pl.22
Place depicted
Other entries in The 1796 Northern Tour to Yorkshire, the North East and the Scottish Borders:
Sketches and Subsequent Watercolours
Bamburgh Castle, from the South
Cragside House, Northumberland (National Trust)
Durham Cathedral, from the South West
British Museum, London
The Ouse Bridge, York, from the North Shore
British Museum, London
The Ouse Bridge, York, from Skeldergate Postern
York Art Gallery
York: The New Walk on the Banks of the Ouse
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection
York Minster, from the South West
Private Collection
York Minster, from the Ouse, with St Mary’s Abbey
Harewood House, Yorkshire
The South Side of York Minster, Showing the Transept and the Western Towers
Private Collection, Yorkshire
York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
British Museum, London
Unidentified Gothic Ruins, Said to Be St Mary’s Abbey, York
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Private Collection
A Distant View of Ripon Minster, from the River Skell
Harewood House, Yorkshire
A Distant View of Rievaulx Abbey
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Private Collection
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Manchester Art Gallery
Easby Abbey, from the River Swale
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Church Beyond
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
British Museum, London
Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Richmond Castle and Bridge, from the River Swale
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool
Richmond Castle and Town, from the South East
Private Collection
Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
British Museum, London
Egglestone Abbey, from the River Tees
Gallery Oldham
Egglestone Abbey, on the River Tees
British Museum, London
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Durham Cathedral and Castle, from the River Wear
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Private Collection, Norfolk
Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Durham Castle and Cathedral, from below the Weir; Dryburgh Abbey with the Eildon Hills Beyond
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Durham Cathedral, from the South West
Private Collection
St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Private Collection
Tynemouth Priory, from the Coast
Cleveland Museum of Art
Bothal Castle, from the River Wansbeck
Private Collection
A River Scene with a Tower, Said to Be the Tyne near Hexham
Leeds Art Gallery
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Warkworth Castle, from the River Coquet
Private Collection, Norfolk
The Bridge at Warkworth, with the Castle Beyond
Untraced Works
Dunstanburgh Castle, Viewed from a Distance
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Dunstanburgh Castle: The Lilburn Tower
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
Lindisfarne: An Interior View of the Ruins of the Priory Church
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
An Interior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Lindisfarne: The Nave and Crossing of the Priory Church
British Museum, London
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
An Exterior View of the Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory Church
Private Collection
York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept Looking North
Private Collection
Dryburgh Abbey: The South Transept from the Cloister
Private Collection
Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
Melrose Abbey: The Ruined Presbytery and the East Window
Cooper Gallery, Barnsley
Melrose Abbey, from the North East
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York
Jedburgh Abbey, from the North East
Private Collection
Jedburgh Abbey, from Jed Water
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
British Museum, London
The Village of Jedburgh, with the Abbey Ruins
Private Collection, Bedfordshire
The West Front of Jedburgh Abbey
British Museum, London
Jedburgh Abbey, from the South East
Blickling Hall, Norfolk (National Trust)
The Ruins of the Lady Chapel, near Bothal
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Bamburgh Castle, from the Village
Guy Peppiatt Fine Art Ltd
St Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool
Richmond, Yorkshire: The Seventeenth-Century House Known as St Nicholas
Private Collection
An Interior View of Fountains Abbey: The East Window from the Presbytery
Graves Gallery, Sheffield
St Mary’s, Old Malton, on the River Derwent
Untraced Works
York: Pavement, Looking towards All Saints
Private Collection
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About this Work
This view of Etal Castle on the river Till in Northumberland, close to the Scottish border, was based on a sketch that Girtin made on his tour to the north east in 1796. This may have been the pencil drawing of Etal that was sold at auction in 1982 (TG1114), but the work was not photographed and this cannot be confirmed (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 9 February 1982, lot 12). The watercolour was reproduced as an aquatint and published in 1800 as part of Four Views from Nature: From Drawings by Mr. Girtin (see print after TG1115). Two of the other watercolours used by the publisher, Rudolph Ackermann (1764–1834), survive: York Minster (TG1051) and Barnard Castle (TG1068). Although the three drawings are slightly different in size and the view of Barnard Castle is on a different laid paper, they possess a stylistic unity that suggests that they were produced at the same time, presumably as a commission. Given that all four of the ‘Views from Nature’ are of subjects that Girtin sketched during his 1796 tour, it follows that the drawings were made soon after his return – indeed, the style of the watercolours is consistent with a dating of, say, 1796–97. That said, I wonder whether the fact that the works were not published until 1800 is significant, and that the rapid and economical way in which the washes of a limited colour range are deployed might not be the result of an older artist tailoring his works to the limitations of the reproductive print trade. A commission for a watercolour for reproduction as an aquatint might have been expected to contain no more detail than was absolutely necessary for the task, and this could explain the relatively crude quality of all three watercolours, rather than reflect an earlier date of production. In the end, however, I am minded to stick with an earlier date for the three watercolours and attribute the time gap between their execution and publication to the sorts of delays that were common in the reproductive print trade.
The four subjects reproduced in Ackermann’s publication, other than the fact that they all derived from Girtin’s 1796 northern tour, seem an arbitrary selection. A distant view of a cathedral (TG1051), part of a ruined priory (TG1072), a lowland castle in its village setting (TG1068), and this, a view of a border castle caught up in the wars with Scotland at the time of the Battle of Flodden, do, however, represent a reasonable overview of the sorts of subjects that Girtin gathered on his trip. It must be stressed, however, that we should not interpret the statement that the ‘Views’ were taken ‘from Nature’ literally; they are all clearly studio works.
(?) 1796
Etal Castle
TG1114
1796 - 1797
Etal Castle
TG1115
1796 - 1797
York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
TG1051
1796 - 1797
Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
TG1068
1796 - 1797
York Minster, from the South East, Layerthorpe Bridge and Postern to the Right
TG1051
1796 - 1797
Finchale Priory, near Durham
TG1072
1796 - 1797
Barnard Castle, from the River Tees
TG1068